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And Du Ping was really cautious, although his troops and warships have increased a lot, but he has been cowering in Jiujiang Port and has not come out.

Zhou Tao and Xu Fang were a little anxious when they saw that after the Jianghuai Army's naval division increased its strength, it still looked like a rat could not get out of the hole.

Because they had just held a meeting in Yuming's big tent, and two shocking bad news were reported at the meeting.

The first bad news is that Li Jiancheng has made significant progress in Hetao, breaking through Wuyuan County, and Tian Hao led the remnants of the army to retreat to Yulin County, but I am afraid that it will not last long.

The second bad news came from Hedong: Li Shimin won consecutive battles in Hedong, winning seven battles and seven victories, and Li Jian had lost seven counties in southeast Hedong in a row, and now he can only be trapped in the original and survive. Although the original city was strong and there was plenty of food and grass in the city, it was difficult for Li Shimin to conquer for a while. But Li Shimin is not confined to the original city. Seeing that the original was difficult to break, he divided his troops to bypass the original and attacked Jinyang, Loufu, Yanmen and other counties to the north, and made an important breakthrough. Now in addition to Dingxiang, Mayi and other counties in Hedong, most of the counties have fallen into the hands of Li Shimin, and it has become an isolated city, crumbling.

After getting these two bad news, Yuming was naturally very anxious. Convene a meeting of generals at all levels to discuss the emergency.

There were two main schools of thought at the meeting. Cheng Yanjin and Qin Qiong believe that it is okay for the Hetao to fall, but the east of the river is the barrier of Hebei and Henan, and it must not be lost. If once Hedong falls into the hands of Li Tang. The Tang army could either start from Changping County and move south to sweep the counties on the north bank of the Yellow River of the Zhou Dynasty and threaten Luoyang from the north, or they could start from Yanmen County and attack Beiping from the east to cut off the connection between the counties of the Central Plains of the Zhou Dynasty and Liaodong.

Therefore, in this case, we can only withdraw our troops to the north first, recapture the east of the river, and then map the land south of the river.

In their opinion, anyway, this southern expedition also occupied the land of Jiangdong, broke the Yangtze River natural danger that Du Fuwei relied on, and partially achieved the purpose of the operation.

However, their opinions were opposed by Zhou Tao and Xu Fang. These two naval generals believed that the battle of the expedition to Jiangnan had reached the most critical moment, and as long as they added more force, they would be able to break through Hukou, occupy Jiujiang and Yuzhang and other places, and annihilate Du Fuwei's main force in one fell swoop. If you retreat at this time, you will fall short and your previous efforts will be lost.

If Du Fuwei is allowed to ease up, sort out the internal contradictions, and use the foundation laid by the Jianghuai army in the south of the Yangtze River, it will be very difficult for the Zhou Dynasty to firmly control the occupied Jiangdong land.

The two factions are arguing, and Yuming is also in a dilemma. From the bottom of his heart, he really hoped that after Du Fuwei was completely wiped out, he would let the main force return to Hedong. But in this way, I am worried that I will not be able to do so. When the army returns to the Central Plains, I am afraid that not only Hedong and Hetao will be lost, but even Hebei will also be lost. That's more than worth the loss.

And if you go back to the north now, you can rescue Hedong. Perhaps, in terms of time, it is too late. However, the results achieved in the Jiangnan area will be greatly reduced. You must know that Du Fuwei has been in the Jianghuai and Jiangnan areas for nearly ten years, and his foundation is far from being comparable to that of the Zhou army that only went south from the north. If he is given a chance to breathe, not to mention that the Lujiang, Liyang and other places that have been occupied now will be recaptured by him, I am afraid that even the Jiangdong land below Jiankang will not be guaranteed. At that time, the results of the southern expedition will be in vain.

Just when Yu Ming couldn't make up his mind, Fang Xuanling thought of a way to make a decision for him.

This military advisor, who is known for his strategy, proposed to give Zhou Tao and Xu five days to find a way to annihilate the Jianghuai Army's naval fleet in one fell swoop. If the victory can be achieved as scheduled, the Zhou army will naturally fight according to the original plan, annihilate Du Fuwei in one fell swoop, and then go north to rescue Hedong.

And if within five days, the Zhou army's naval division fails to annihilate the Jianghuai army's naval division as scheduled, then no matter what the battle is, the main force of the Zhou army must go north to rescue Hedong. In order to ensure that this strategic place is not lost.

Such a gambling method made the generals of both factions have nothing to say. Zhou Tao and Xu Fang also made a military order, saying that they must defeat Du Ping within five days and completely annihilate the Jianghuai Army and Naval Division.

It's just that they never expected that Du Ping, who had always been arrogant, suddenly became a shrunken turtle and didn't fight. If this continues, won't they just obediently follow the army back to the north?

And just when Zhou Tao and Xu Fang were a little helpless, when Fang Xuanling came to inspect the sailor camp, he helped them come up with a plan.

Fang Xuanling judged from the current situation of the enemy and us, as well as Du Ping's actions in the battle at the mouth of the Yangtze River, eager to go to battle and attempt to make meritorious contributions. Thinking that Du Ping should be a person who acts more impulsively and impulsively, and has a particularly strong self-esteem, he thinks that he is a well-deserved successor to the Jianghuai King, and has always been very jealous of his brother Du Yu, worried that he will threaten his position. If the method of agitation is used, it may be possible to induce them to go into battle and annihilate the Jianghuai Army and Naval Division in one fell swoop.

As for how to induce him to fight, Fang Xuanling suggested that he could send someone to pretend to be a messenger under Du Yu and bring a secret letter to Du Fuwei, saying in the letter that his brother Du Ping had been ineffective in fighting for a long time, and there was no way to take the Zhou army's sailors. He Du Yu is willing to recommend himself and lead the Jianghuai Navy Division to fight a decisive battle with the Zhou army, and he will definitely be able to play Kai in one fell swoop.

Zhou Tao and Xu Fang were overjoyed when they heard this, so they acted according to the plan and sent a dead soldier to march to Baling County, where Du Fuwei was located, with a secret letter.

And when this dead soldier passed by Du Ping's sailor camp, he deliberately pretended to be sneaky and looked panicked, so that Du Ping's subordinates thought that he was a spy and arrested him in the camp for interrogation.

This deceased soldier first refused to say his identity, and later was tortured, so he claimed that he was a subordinate of the second prince Du Yu and sent a letter to Du Fuwei in Baling County.

When Du Ping's personal soldiers heard this, they became suspicious, and secretly wondered why the second prince sent someone to deliver the letter so sneaky? They immediately sent a secret letter to this person. When they opened the letter and read it, they were shocked. Unexpectedly, the second prince actually had a contempt for the military power of the Jianghuai Army's naval division.

These people are all Du Ping's henchmen, and they naturally dare not hide this kind of big event. So he took this secret letter and quietly reported it to Du Ping.

Seeing this, Du Ping was also very angry, and his heart was anxious and angry. He never expected that his younger brother, who was not angry, would also want to seize the military power of the water division.

He then ordered the "messenger" to be secretly executed, and then summoned Wu Bo and other close generals to discuss the matter. And everyone agreed that if they couldn't avoid the battle again, they would give Du Yu the truth and give him the opportunity to ask Du Fuwei for the power of the water master. So now we must fight right away and try to win the battle with the mouth of Seduyu.

And they also believe that after replenishing the battleships, the Jianghuai Army Naval Division already has the capital to compete with the Zhou Army's Naval Division.

Seeing that all the generals under his command were in favor of fighting, Du Ping's courage also increased.

He planned to fight with Zhou Tao again, strive to defeat the Zhou army and the sailor in a battle, show his face in front of his father, and also cut off his second brother Du Yu's heart to look down on the power of the sailor and his position as the prince.

Of course, he's not completely stupid either. After the defeat in the last battle, eat a trench and grow a wisdom. He also realized that although his side had an advantage in the number of ships and soldiers, it was inferior to the Zhou army's sailors in terms of the size of the warships, the speed of sailing, weapons and equipment and other hardware, and the quality of ordinary soldiers.

After discussing with Wu Bo and others, they all agreed that if they wanted to defeat the Zhou army's sailors and capture Zhou Tao, they had to make good use of the advantages in the number of warships and soldiers, capture the thief and capture the king first, and concentrate all their forces to defeat the enemy's command flagship.

In their opinion, as long as Zhou Tao, the soul of the Zhou army's naval division, is killed, no matter how strong the enemy's fleet is, it will be in chaos and self-defeating.

Through intelligence reconnaissance and observation during the last battle of the Yangtze River estuary, they found that the flagship that Zhou Tao was riding on was the invincible, the largest warship.

So, Du Ping and Wu Bo unanimously decided to wait until the water battle began, and let all the ships attack the big ship called "Invincible"!

……

Early the next morning, the Jianghuai Army sailors drove out of the port and arrived at the waters of the lake, where they fought a big battle with the Zhou Army Sailors who had been waiting here.

When the water battle between the two sides broke out in Poyang Lake, the warships of the Jianghuai Army all seemed to go crazy, desperately besieging Zhou Tao's flagship Invincible. Countless fireballs smashed into the giant warship as if they didn't want money.

Although the Invincible's defensive deck was much thicker than that of a normal naval battleship, and there was a layer of iron wrapped around the ship's side and deck, it was still smashed and caught fire in several places.

In the face of such a critical situation, Zhou Tao was not afraid of danger, personally went to the bridge of the ship, and commanded the battleship to launch fireballs and rockets to return fire.

At the same time, he also ordered the flag bearer to play the flag, and asked Xu Fang to lead the detachment to attack the main force of the enemy's naval division from the flank when most of the main warships of the Jianghuai Army's naval division were attracted around his own direct fleet.

After a hard battle, although Zhou Tao's flagship Invincible was scarred, it was not sunk, it seems that Zhou Qiang had said before, this invincible battleship is an unsinkable battleship, although it is a bit exaggerated, but it still proves from the side that its defense is amazing.

On this day, in the battle in Poyang Lake, it was still the Zhou army's sailors who had the upper hand. They killed more than 8,000 enemy troops, captured more than 10 warships, and sank and damaged more than 120 warships of the Jianghuai Army's naval division.

It's just that such a victory is also hard-won, and it can even be said to be thrilling. After all, once in the war, the flagship of the Zhou Army's naval division, the Invincible, was sunk by the enemy, it would be a huge blow to the morale of the officers and soldiers of the Zhou Army's naval division.

And after Zhou Tao experienced this thrilling battle, he also said with a look of emotion: "At the beginning, I only thought that this Invincible is the largest and most eye-catching among our warships, and it is easy to command on it, and it is also easy for the captains of other ships to identify." But I didn't expect to become a live target in the war...... Anyway, tonight, let the Invincible withdraw to the Yangtze River first, and I will change another capital battleship as the flagship. Ben will see again how Dupin can find my boat! ”

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